The case of the flying imams: CAIR speaks

Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR, has sent a footnoted four-page letter to the Becket Fund, the response to which is accessible at the linked Becket site. We’ve obtained a copy of Awad’s letter from Patrick Gallagher at the Becket Fund. It is a remarkable document, full of civil rights claims of the “ain’t nobody here but us chickens” variety.
Those flying imams, if you take CAIR’s rhetoric seriously, follow in the footsteps of Rosa Parks, Linda Brown, and Martin Luther King. And the attorney for the flying imams, well, I guess he stands in the footsteps of NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall.
Awad writes: “We stand by the principle that that when anyone’s rights are diminished, the rights of all Americans are threatened and we do recognize this works both ways.” I guess that means CAIR acknowledges that when it diminishes anyone’s rights, the rights of all Americans are diminished.” I should think that means that when CAIR asks its constituents to seek to free convicted terrorist Sami al-Arian, as it does at the moment, the rights of all Americans are diminished. Either that, or CAIR fraudulently holds itself out as a “civil rights” organization.
Awad writes:

Public opinion may not view this case favorably, but again as the civil rights movement taught us, any initiative to racial and religious justice is not always popular, particularly in its early stages.
We now rightly view the “rabble rousers” and “troublemakers” who defended African-Americans in the courts as champions of social justice and civil rights. CAIR takes these champions as our example and works toward adding to their great legacy.

Awad adds a note of irritation:

CAIR is shocked at your reference in the media to the imams’ case as “legal terrorism” and concerned that you find your group opposing this litigation. We are also concerned about your use of stereotypical and derogatory terms such as “The Case of the Flying Imams.”

As to “The Case of the Flying Imams,” I add only that it is a title with respect to which we have some pride of authorship and that for those who prefer a more politcally correct case title, we offer “the six passengers formerly known as the flying imams.”
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